On January 23, Goldman Sachs hosted an evening session with the New York City User Experience Professionals Association (NYC UXPA). The session featured a talk by Tom Greever, a User Experience (UX) Director at Bitovi, a front-end design and development consultancy, and author of Articulating Design Decisions. Over 150 UX professionals from Goldman Sachs and the NYC UXPA community attended.

Greever discussed his work on how to present design decisions. He suggests that, when working closely with stakeholders, designers’ communication about their work can be more critical than the designs themselves. He recommends that designers remove details that are not important to the conversation when presenting their work. For example, a designer seeking feedback regarding the structure of her design may choose to remove color, so that her stakeholder can focus on the layout and information hierarchy. Greever’s talk and book seek to empower UX Designers to guide their stakeholders through their processes effectively, so that they can capture the most relevant feedback.

UX professionals found the talk very relevant to their work. “Some of the best designers I’ve worked with are those who can clearly walk a stakeholder through their design journey in a thoughtful way,” said Eric, a vice president on the UX team.

The session was instructional to the growing UX design community inside Goldman Sachs. “The firm is expanding its focus on Client Experience, especially as we extend our digital offerings, which drives the need for UX talent,” said Steve, a managing director and the global head of the UX team.